It's Just a School

“Come children. Someone will retrieve your things from the van, so let me show you the campus.” Principle Mercy said as he turned off the van and got out, walking around and opening the door next to Sebastian. Sebastian, Riley, then Mark climbed out. Once out, the girl in the back scrambled out and away from them, to as far away as she could manage. The twins came out next and everyone came to stand around the principle. That girl stayed in the back but Mark couldn’t stop himself from glancing over at her.

She was tall. She had hair shaved on the sides and long on top that was brushed off to the side. The top was pink and the sides were black. Her bright blue eyes had dark circles underneath and she looked like he was going to fall asleep standing up.

“She smells like you.” Riley whispered.

“Huh?” Mark whispered back, turning to her.

“That kid smells like you. Neither of you smell like wizards.” She stated, not looking away from the principle. She knew it might be trouble if he heard their conversation, but she still wanted to talk to him about it. He wished she would give up, but when she rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and slightly moved away, he wished more than anything to bring her back somehow. Just the look he had given her had offended her.

“But I am a wizard.” Mark protested.

"Mark, whatever that was, does not follow wizards around. Your magic has a smell of decay. She smells like decay." Riley countered.

“Now I will introduce you to your maths teacher who will show you the academic buildings. You are all in the same grade so you all will have him three times a week.” Mercy said, loudly.

“Three? We have to do Math three times a week?” One of the twins shouted. The other groaned.

“And you are Mr.?” Mercy asked.

“Oh, I’m Nex and he is Nyx.” The louder twin said with a grin.

“Nuh uh! I’m Nex, he is Nyx.” The second protested.

“I meant your real names, gentlemen.” Mercy said in exasperation.

“We… don’t really go by them.” The first twin said uncomfortably, hiding behind his dark, red hair. He had it shaved on the sides but the top was so long that when it hung down on one of the sides it was almost to his shoulders. The other twin had the same hair but had it spiked in a mohawk.

“They are your proper names. Please tell us what they are.” Mercy said.

“Sir, can we speak to you about this when we aren’t around people?” The second twin said, “Please?”

“Just tell me if you are Jason or Jackson.” Mercy commanded. Both of the boys flinched but instead of answering they both fell silent. They stayed like this for a long time, “Boys. Answer.”

“I’m Jackson. These names are not our names, we won't answer to them.” The first twin spoke up again.

“Very brave, or obnoxious, Mr. Jackson.” Mercy said, dismissively. Every time their names were spoken by him or them, they flinched, “Let’s continue and find Mr. Levi.”

As they walked behind Mercy, Jason started to walk very close behind his brother and they stayed either beside Mark, Riley, and Sebastian or behind them. They wouldn’t get any closer. Mark wanted to ask if they were alright but he didn’t want to alert Mercy. Mark just didn't like him.

"What is Mercy?" Mark whispered.

"He smells like..." Riley answered, just as quiet," -a spirit guide of some sort. I can tell he is a guide or guardian spirit or a deity of some sort that has similar intent, but I've never smelled the region he smells like. It's not from here, I don't think."

They came to the doors of the first academic building. Standing in the doorway was a man in his late twenties with messy brunette curls and black rimmed glasses. He wore a white long sleeve shirt and a nice tan vest. These two were in such contrast. Levi was young and dressed like a stereotyped teacher. Mercy was bald with a long gray beard and a similar white shirt but his was unbuttoned and his sleeves were rolled up. They had just been driving through Florida, so he was probably very hot.

"This is Mr. Levi." Mercy introduced, patting him on the shoulder, "I will be leaving you in his hands until the tour brings you to the dorms."

"Th-thank you." Mr. Levi said, smiling while Mercy walked behind him and headed toward the building at the back," Alright, I am L-Levi." He flinched as he became stuck on certain letters, "I do apologize, I have a stutter. It d-does not hinder my teaching. L-let's go around and tell one another what we want to be called. "

When he finished, he looked over to where Mercy had just walked away then pointed to the twins. Mercy's eyes followed as Mercy left, his smile becoming slightly less genuine as he watched the older man go.

"I'm Nex and Nyx." One of the twins pointed to themselves and then the other as they introduced themselves. MArk didn't have the time to learn which was which just yet, he would later. Instead, he was watching Mercy leave.

"I'm Riley." Riley said as she was pointed to.

"I am Sebastian but Bash is okay too." Bash said.

"Ava." The girl in the back said. Mark spun to look at her. Her voice was very tired but very sweet. She smiled shyly as everyone looked at her, and it brightened all of her features. She had a cute and genuine smile that showed all of her teeth. She waved a little then looked away from everyone, hugging herself and rubbing her arm.

"I'm Mark." He introduced himself absently.

“Alright, if y-you will follow me th-this way.”

When Mark saw Mercy was far enough away and had gone into the far building, Mark hurried over to the twins.

“Hey are you alright?” He asked them.

“Yeah. Just haven’t gone by our names since before we were in the foster system. Normally once we tell adults why they leave us alone about it.” the twin with his hair brushed down.

“Were you Nex or Nyx?” He asked.

“Oh, uh, I’m Nex, he is Nyx.” Nex explained, pointing as he said, sounding slightly shocked.

“Bet by the end of the week I can tell you two apart.” Mark said with a smirk.

“You think it’s going to be easy?” Nyx said with a scoff.

“Sure, you’re both very unique. Every twin is different.” Mark said as they walked down the first hallway and turned a right corner.

“Known a lot of twins then?” Nex asked.

“I…” Mark’s smile dropped but he slapped it back on, “I used to. Don’t anymore.”

“We’ll see how much of an expert you really are.” Nyx said, “Hey, thanks.”

“What for?” Mark asked, frowning.

“Kids, th-this is the Maths wing.” Levi said, pointing down the hallway to their left, “Th-the rooms are numbered. I’m at the very end. In between classes you have five minutes to get from class to class but if you have a good reason we will accept you eight minutes late. You will have Maths and English th-three times a week, Economics and Physical Education twice a week, Art, French, and Science once a week, and everyone has a free period, the-the fourth class hour, and you get one elective period.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath after finishing. He had struggled a few times making the sound ‘th’ in his sentences, “So, Maths, next level, language arts, science on top. Across the-the yard is another building.” Mark could tell he was nervous and it was getting worse.

“Art, French, Economics are over there?” Mark asked, trying to help. When they made eye contact he nodded to encourage Levi, who smiled brightly and nodded. He motioned his hand and Mark understood the motion, “Art on the top, French middle level, and Economics on the bottom.”

“Appreciate it, Mr. Mark?” Levi asked.

“Where are band and P.E.?” He asked.

“Behind the Admin Building at th-the back of th-the field.” Levi pointed to the building that Mercy had gone to.

He motioned for everyone to follow him and opened two doors to show a stairwell. They climbed to the next floor to another set of doors. The walls were all a cream tile with one stripe of orange tile at hip level to Mark and a stripe of brown to border the top of the walls. He led them down the hall about fifty feet and showed them the bathrooms.

“Dorm rooms have showers. Th-they are like bathroom stalls with locks. There are no bathtubs except in the nurse's office in the admin building. Down here…” He started to lead a little further to another door with a red cross on it, “These are on every floor for emergencies. Since it is so far from the Admin building and our campus is so far from the hospital, there is a nurse in every building on the second floor that has access to an elevator. Only they have access to the elevators. I don’t even.”

He headed down the hall to the end where another set of stairs were and led them downstairs again and out the back door.

“Will we get a map?” Nyx asked.

“You know, th-the mohawk might give us a clue to which one of you is which.” Levi said, smirking, “You get a map, y-yes.”

“Sometimes I like a mohawk.” Nex said.

“Sometimes I like a mohawk.” Nyx said. Both were grinning from ear to ear. Mark found himself smiling at first but he glanced out the window they were passing, sighing in relief when he saw nothing out there.

“Y-you both like playing games.” Levi stated, “The dorms you will be staying in are back here behind this building. The buildings have letters on them. Building A with dorms B behind. Building C with dorms D behind. The Admin building is Building E with dorms F behind. Dorms F are where the adults stay and they are actually an apartment building while dorms are houses with multiple rooms. When you go between Building A and E there is another hidden building with a field behind it. That is the band building with a practice field for marching band. There is a similar setup between building C and E.”

As they left building A to go to B, Mercy met them at the doorway. He spoke a little with Levi, then took over the group. Everyone had moved closer and the relaxed atmosphere seemed to evaporate.

“There are rooms on the top floor waiting for you all. There aren’t enough rooms, currently, so Mr. Jackson and Mr. Jason-...?” Mercy dropped the question, turning to the twins, they both nodded together, “Mr. Jason, the mohawk has to be combed down or cut an inch shorter when classes start next Monday.”

“Really? Awe man. Okay, I’ll have it fixed.” Nyx said, sadly.

“See that you do. You two are already on thin ice.” Mercy stated, turning away and leading into the dorms, “Your rooms are already assigned and all of your things are in those rooms. We used to have gender separated dorms but we grew so much we became coed. At night the only rooms to be shared are siblings and in a month that will no longer be needed, we have a student leaving the state with their guardian. After ten p.m. you must be in your own room and the wifi will be turned off. You may make private calls after your free period. Even if you work on your homework for your free period, you still must take an hour after school to work on your ‘homework’. It does not matter what hour that is. Those in band will have Thursdays off with no homework so you can practice for competitions, as will other after school programs as the year progresses. Lunch is always the third hour and dinner is any time between five thirty p.m. and eight p.m. I didn’t mean to go on a full rant of the rules, I seem to have gotten myself carried away.”

He stopped once in the dorm building B and turned to face them as they crowded into the foyer. He leaned on the railing of the staircase to the right. There was a hallway behind him and another staircase to the left.

“Behind me is a sitting room, game room, living room area.” Mercy said, gesturing to each area as he named them, “ It is fairly large with light and easy to move furniture to arrange however it is needed for whatever activities you need through the night. There are doors at the back left and right corners of that room. The left leads to a library and the right has a computer room and study room which has a private meeting room when you need a quiet area to work in groups with others. Upstairs are the rooms. To your right are the junior’s dorms and to the left are your dorms and other seniors. Your names are on the doors. Upstairs, in the first and second rooms are your Dorm Leads and R.A. Lacy and Ed are Dorm Leads, they will help you directly with problems, and your R.A. is Amy, she is an alumni who is starting college courses online but living here. If your D.L. can’t help with an issue or they aren’t available, she should be. They should be up there waiting for you. That’s all from me, I will see you at dinner.”

He nodded and watched as everyone made their way up the proper staircase. The air seemed to lift as they climbed. Without him looming over them, things seemed so much lighter. Mark and Sebastian had ended up at the front of the group but after they were about halfway up the stairs Riley burst through them and up the last half, slamming into a smaller girl at the top.

She was very petite with long blonde hair and a cute face splattered with freckles. She was smiling so wide as she held onto Riley. When they parted the hug, another girl and three more boys crowded in and hugged her. She was gushing over them and they were gushing over her, but every single one of them looked at her with such adoration and she looked at them with such pride as she greeted each one, touching their faces and petting their hair. The group was full of varying kids, different ages, heights, and ethnicities. Glancing through the group, Mark finally realized who they were, her pack.

The girl pulled further away from the group around Riley and gestured the rest of the group up the stairs and around them so she could address them.

“I’m Lacy, I’m one of the two D.L. in Building B.” The girl said, holding a clip board to her chest,” I will post announcements on the board between my room and Ed’s room. Let me introduce myself then you guys can each introduce yourselves to one another. I am a junior, I have been an D.L. every quarter of every year since I started. I applied for it before I arrived. I was a good student but a car wreck sent me on a path that this school had to save me from. Let’s start with my step sister, Riley.” She put her arm out to gesture to Riley who was standing in the group of newcomers but still in front of the group of her pack mates.

“I’m Riley, I’m a Senior. This is the third school I’ve been to, and I’m the recruiter of the club my family started and the leader. It spreads all over the world and that is who all these people are.” She said, “Mark next.”

“Oh, Uh.” Mark started, “I’m Mark, I have never stayed anywhere more than four months since I was fifteen. All of my friends are through the phone but I love having them and love when I make more.”

“I’m Nex. I’m the older twin by 10 minutes. This is Nyx. We had a problem with trying to see how much we could get away with in every new place we went.” Nex explained with a smirk.

“I’m going to advise you not to do that here. Principle Mercy is not forgiving.” Lacy warned.

“We will be absolute angels.” Nyx promised.

“I’m Sebastian. It was either here or jail for the car I stole and wrecked. I think I’m going to like it here.” He threw his arms over Mark and Riley’s shoulders with a wide grin.

“Okay. Is that all? Oh! You!”Lacy said, pointing behind Nyx. Standing slightly behind him was that girl who had pulled up the hood on her black jacket. She sighed and pushed it down.

“Ava. After my mom died I stop caring about anything and my father decided this was the best place to hide me away from his campaign so he wouldn’t lose voters.” She said with a shrug.

“Even though it is starting out that way, I hope this place can become a home for you. No one deserves that.” Lacy said sincerely.

“Uh, Thanks.” Ava said, a confused look on her face, a hint of that pretty smile coming out.

“You’re welcome. Lets see your rooms, everyone.” Lacy said, her smile returning as she turned to lead them.